See No Evil
by Loryn Hotchner
Summary: The hardest thing in the world is to shield your child's innocent eyes. Hotch/OC Rated M for safety.


**Author's Note:** First thing I've posted on here so please don't be nice. Rip into me and tell what I should and shouldn't be doing. Or if you don't want to yell at me you don't have to but I would appreciate some feed back. Now I don't really love this chapter, but I never love first chapters and it seems really long and drawn out but I wanted to make things clear. In the end I might have just confused people even more though. What I am trying to say is please don't base your entire opinion on this story by this one chapter because it is going to get better, things will start to pick up and there is an actual story line underneath this babble of a chapter.  
**Disclaimer:** Do not own Criminal Minds, if I did you would never see Aaron Hotchner. Or Thomas Gibson for that matter.  
**Warnings: **Violence, Language, Adult Situations(No planned lemons), Slight Child Abuse.

* * *

**Chapter 01**

* * *

I tapped my fingers lightly on the steering wheel to the up beat beat of the music playing rather loudly as my daughter, Gwen, sang along with it. I smiled at her in the mirror as the chorus came up and I started to sing with her. We had gotten inseparable again during my leave from work. It wasn't exactly a leave on my part, I was mostly pushed into it by unit chief, but now I was grateful for those short weeks I got to spend alone with my five year old daughter.

Most of the time was spent outside in different parks or zoos, we went to the occasional movie when we felt it was either too wet, too warm or too cold to be outside. I had actually been able to make breakfast for her every morning and make dinner for her every night before reading her a story as I tucked her safely into her bed. I had always felt some sort of grudge at stay-home mom's, but now I just envy them. I had no idea what the appeal was before but now that Gwen is getting older I want to be in her life more now. I don't want her to look back on her childhood and only remember me leaving early in the morning and sneaking into her room a week later to kiss her good night with another cut or bruise on me.

I turned down the music earning a protest from the back seat to turn it back up. "We're at Mrs. Stark's, I don't think she would appreciate it much if we sat out in front of her house with music blaring, do you?"

"Nu-uh." She giggled shaking her head fast.

'That's what I thought." I turned the car off leaning back to grab the umbrella that was in the back pouch of the passenger seat before climbing out of the car with the umbrella opened. I walked over to the other side of the car and opening the door to the SUV, beginning my struggle with Gwen's new car seat.

"Do you need some help?" She giggled as I started to get frustrated with the damn straps.

"Ha!" I shouted as I finally got her out of the car seat.

"You're funny." She smiled at me as I lifted her into my arms, grabbing her bag too.

"I try." I smiled back at her as I walked up to the door. I knocked on the door softly, the rain hitting the canvas of the umbrella gently. Mrs. Stark opened her door widely with a grin on her face as the smell of cinnamon hit my nose.

"Good morning Annabelle." Mrs. Stark said as I walked through the door and into the living room, wiping my wet shoes on the greeting rug. I sat Gwen down next to me before turning to Mrs. Stark.

"Good morning Mrs. Stark. How are you today?" I asked sweetly.

"I'm wonderful. How did you enjoy your time off?"

"It was amazing!" Gwen exclaimed from my side making a few parents and children look at us, I laughed softly running my fingers through the curly blond hair. "We went to the zoo and the park and the movies and mommy cooked pancakes every morning! Not just any pancakes but the bestest pancakes ever!" She threw her hands up in the air.

"It sounds like you two had a wonderful time with each other. While you were away a new boy started. Would you like to go meet him?" Mrs. Stark asked Gwen. Gwen talked to every kid in the daycare and were friends with almost all of them. There were a few that she wasn't to fond of but she talked to them all the same. I was happy to see how good her social skills were but I couldn't expect anything less when she spent most of her time in daycare.

"Yes!" She smiled as she took Mrs. Stark's hand, Mrs. Stark leading her over to a corner with a man and a little boy. I smiled gently before turning around and placing her bag on a shelf with the other bags. This was my least favorite time of day, and now that I had spent three straight weeks with Gwen, I hated it even more. I hated not knowing what was going on, what she was learning. Even though Mrs. Stark kept me well informed I still felt like a horrible parent. I sighed softly before turning back around to the look at the living room.

I couldn't help but feel like she was safe here as I watched the other children playing, coloring and reading. There were gates to every door way, covers over unused sockets and loose cords taped between the baseboards and carpet. I knew Mrs. Stark looked after the children like they were here own but every time I left her here I felt guilty, I felt scared.

I smiled widely as Gwen came running back to me. I crouched down leveling up with her.

"His name is Jack and his daddy is in the FBI too!" She said after running into me.

"That's cool." I smiled before looking down at my watch. "You be good for Mrs. Stark."

"I know mommy, you tell me everyday." She giggled as Mrs. Stark came back over to us.

"Just making sure you know." I smiled pulling her into a big hug.

"You're smooshing me!" She laughed loudly struggling to get out of my grasp, her curls bouncing all over the place.

"I love you honey." I kissed her on the cheek finally letting her go.

"I love you too mommy." I stood up ruffling her hair.

"Okay, am I going to have to haul you out of here?" Mrs. Stark joked, laughing sweetly.

"Nah, I'll go willingly." I sighed. "One more hug though." I said grabbing Gwen back into my arms spinning her around making her laugh loudly. "Okay." I said setting her back onto the plush carpet floor. "I love you."

"I love you." She smiled before running over to a group of kids.

"She'll be fine." Mrs. Parker said placing a arm on my shoulder.

"I know." I smiled a little before turning around heading towards the door, my umbrella in my hand ready to open. I opened the umbrella as soon as I got outside, not looking at what I was doing and hit someone with it. "Oh my god." I said slowly lifting the umbrella over my head. "I am so sorry." I covered my mouth moving slightly closer to the man in a suit.

"It's okay." He said rubbing his head where I had managed to hit him.

"No it is not okay! I just stabbed you with a . . . a . . . what do you call this?" I asked loosing momentum, pointing to the top of the umbrella.

"I think it's called a ferrule, but I'm not sure, and really, it is okay." The corners of his mouth moving up slightly. "Besides, I'm not bleeding, so I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" I asked breathing out, putting both of my hands on the curved handle. He shook his head 'yes' in response and I couldn't help but feel a little better for hitting him. "So, are you the new kid's dad?" I asked striking up a conversation. I couldn't help it, I was single, and he had son so he wouldn't care if I had a kid, and there was no wedding band.

"Yeah, he started coming here last week. Was your kid the one who ran up to us with Mrs. Stark?" He asked as I shifted the umbrella so it was covering him as well.

"She likes people. I tried caging her up to keep her away from society, but it never worked." I joked. "She always managed to find a way out." I laughed slightly. "How old is your's?"

"Five."

"Mine, too." I smiled more. "Gwen, my daughter, says you work at the FBI."

"Jack, my son, tells everyone, well everyone here at least."

"What department?" I asked fully interested.

"BAU." He said slightly guarded, I mean I would be too if some random person started asking me about my job at the FBI.

"I'm sorry, I work at the Quantico building, too. I mostly do undercover work." I shifted the weight off my left leg and onto my right, quickly putting the weight back on the left part of my body. "I know your tech and Spencer." He nodded, starting to understand my line of questions. "We met at a party a couple years ago. They were kind of hard to get rid of after that." I laughed slightly again, looking down at my watch out of habit. "I should get going. It's my first day back and I don't want to be too late and there is a stop I want to make on the way. I can walk you to your car if you want." I offered pointing back to the umbrella.

"I'm fine, thank you. I parked right there." He pointed to the car in the driveway, only a few feet away.

"It was nice to meet you . . ."

"Hotch." He called after me as I slowly backed towards my car.

"It was nice to meet you Hotch."

"You too . . ." He mimicked my early actions.

"Annabelle." I called as I reached my car.

"You too Annabelle." I smiled softly as I got into my car driving off to the FBI building.

* * *

"Hey Dr. Sexy." I winked as I sat down on Spencer's desk. Since we met I always joked around with him about wanting him to be at least four years older then he actually was so we could date. He always flustered up whenever the conversation came up which made me want to talk about it all the more. He was even more cute when he was nervous.

"I see that you are coming back to work." Spencer said looking up from the paper work that was neatly organized on his desk.

"Yep, I finally conned Greg into letting me come back. I kind of regret it now." I sighed before looking around. "She's usually here by now. She seems to have Annabelle radar." Just then a pair of arms snaked around my waist pulling me against their body. "Oh look, only a minute late." I laughed as Penelope continued to hug me.

"So, how was vacation? Is it as wonderful as people make it out to be?" Penelope asked when she finally let go of my waist.

"It was the best three weeks of my life. But I officially hate Mrs. Stark now." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"She's taking care of your bundle of joy how could you possibly hate her?" Penelope asked confused.

"Because she's taking care of my bundle."

"You're a confusing woman." Spencer said looking up from his work again.

"I bet you say that to all the girls stud." I winked again making him blush slightly. I sat on Spencer's desk for a while longer letting Penelope ask me all the questions she wanted about my three weeks off. I got off of his desk as their other team members slowly started to pour into the bull pen and their offices. I was getting ready to leave when I saw Hotch walk through the doors heading for the ramp that lead to his office. I smiled a little before turning back to Penelope.

"Did you just smile at Hotch?" Penelope asked.

"Yes," I said slowly, "we met earlier. He dropped his son off at Mrs. Stark's."

"That's right, I told him about her." She said suddenly recalling the conversation. "Still doesn't explain 'the Smile'."

"It wasn't 'the Smile'." I rolled my eyes.

"What's 'the Smile'?" Spencer asked thoroughly confused.

"Nothing, because it was non-existent."

"We have a case." Hotch's voice interrupted whatever else Penelope was going to say. "I thought you said you had somewhere to go before you went to work."

"I did." I turned around smiling. "I had to come here and see Penny and Dr. Sexy."

"Don't you have a job to get to." Spencer mumbled standing up.

"Eh." I shrugged.

"Are you ever on time?" Penelope asked joking around.

"When there's food involved." I joked back. "Besides I'm not late, everyone else is just early."

"I'm surprised you haven't been fired." It was official, the three of us had forgotten all about Hotch and the few other members of the team standing by us.

"Greg wouldn't fire me. He loves me too much." Just then my phone started to ring. "You know what, I don't really feel like testing that theory though so I'm gonna go. You have a new case anyways." I said backing towards the elevator.

"Greg?" Hotch asked making me whip my head towards him scowling.

"Shut up."

* * *

"I got caught up." I said loudly placing my things on my desk before heading into Greg's office, not even bothering to look around. "I went to talk to some people over at BAU and I lost track of time and Mrs. Stark had to pull me screaming and kicking out of the house." Okay, so I exaggerated a bit.

"You're not late." Greg said simply.

"I'm not?" I asked looking out the door only to find that none of the other team members were there yet. "Then why'd you call?" I asked very confused.

"We need to talk." Shit. I sat down in the chair across from his desk staring at him. "I let you come back because I know you can't stand being away from here for too long but it was against my better judgment."

"I know, but I swear everything is okay now."

"Hyde, you got shot and it's been three weeks. You aren't fine."

"Technically it's been four weeks, or have you forgotten the week in the hospital. And no offense, _sir_, but I'm pretty sure I am fine. I think I know what my body can and cannot handle better then you do."

"I'm benching you." He said after a few minutes of silence.

"You're what?" I hollered.

"You are not allowed out in the field. I don't think you're physically and mentally ready for it yet."

"Greg!"

"Look, it's better this way. You could seriously hurt yourself permanently if you push yourself too hard. How would you feel if you had to resign because you were too damn stubborn?"

"This is bullshit Greg and you know it." I said between gritted teeth.

"It may be but it's my final decision." I glared at him for a few minutes trying to sort things through my head and the more I thought about it the more pissed off I was beginning to get. I looked out the window at the rest of the team who had managed to find their way into the bullpen unnoticed.

"I really wish you would have told me you were going to do this before I came back." I stood up, the front legs of the chair coming off the ground almost falling over. I stormed out of Greg's office, down to the bullpen. I picked up my messenger bag from my desk placing it over my head before standing towards my team. "Did nobody think to inform me that our schedule

changed?"

"I thought it would be nice for you to not be late." Thomas shrugged.

"Well your little plan back fired. I didn't have a clue that our times had changed so I was blind-sided by that when Greg told me he was benching me." Thomas' eyes shot up to mine. He didn't have a clue what Greg was planning, it made me a feel a little better that this wasn't a team decision.

"He can't bench you. One, you're the only one on this team that looks good in a dress and two, you're never been benched. Ever." Luke tried to lighten the mood a little, which he was usually good at but right now, I just really wanted to be pissed.

"Yeah, well, no time like the present." I mumbled. "If he needs me I'll be back in about forty minutes."

* * *

I sat on Spencer's desk waiting for their meeting to get over. Spencer would make me feel better, if not Penelope would. I watched through the windows as Spencer walked around the room talking adamantly as the others listened to him. I was relieved when I realized Penelope was sitting in with them. I wouldn't have to go to her office now if Spencer was a dud. I climbed off Spencer's desk as they started collecting things into files to leave. I shimmied pass a blond girl who smiled at me before walking over to Spencer who standing up looking at the board in front of him.

"When do you guys leave?" I asked making him jump.

"Thirty minutes." He replied not taking his eyes off of the board.

"I love you." I cooed placing a hand on his shoulder.

"No you can't come with us."

"Well don't you suck." I sighed leaning against the round table.

"I thought you were late." Penelope said coming by me.

"Yeah, well, this morning is full of surprises." Spencer turned around raising an eyebrow. "For example did you know that Gwen knew about what really happened between me and her father?" Penelope's eyes shot up. "Yeah, I have never talked about it in front of her and yet she knows and she told me that she'll hate him if I wanted her to." I rolled my eyes. "Another example, did you know that my team comes in a eight-thirty now instead of eight?" Spencer's eyes knitted in confusion.

"Then why did Greg call you?"

"Oh my god he fired you!" Penelope exclaimed getting the attention of the remaining members in the room.

"I wish. Example three: did you know that even though I have never done anything wrong," they both gave me a look, "purposely, and I am the one on my team that goes under most that I still get desk duty?"

"What?" Spencer and Penelope both asked.

"Yep, he benched me."

"Why?" Penelope asked.

"I don't know, because he secretly hates me and wants me to suffer." I shrugged.

"You aren't a very good liar." A feminine voice said from behind me.

"Nobody asked you." I scowled.

"What happened?" Spencer asked. "Greg loves you, he wouldn't put you at your desk unless he had a good reason."

"See, this is why I like Penelope she leaves thing alone when she knows I don't want to talk about things." Spencer continued to look at me with those eyes and it made me want to slap him. "Okay so maybe the last operation I went on I might have, kind of gotten slightly hurt so Greg is being all anal."

"You kind of got hurt." A snort came from the door.

"You know I will put a PPO out on you." I scowled at Thomas.

"She got shot, don't let her lie to you." Tommy said leaning against the door.

"You got shot?" Spencer asked.

"How come we didn't know?" Penelope asked madly.

"Because, you guys are good at what you do," I pointed to the BAU members, "and we're good at what we do." I pointed to Tom and me.

"Which is?" Hotch asked.

"Faking it." I winked making Penelope laugh. "What are you doing here anyways?" I asked turning towards Tom.

"I wanted to talk." He stated matter-of-factly.

"Okay, I'll meet you outside." I said smiling a bit.

"You're lucky." Penelope sighed after Tom left.

"Ew!" I exclaimed.

"He's cute." The girl who talked earlier said making my face scrunch up.

"That's nasty."

"Almost as nasty as you thinking H-" I glared at Penelope, "Hanks it cute. Tom Hanks, no idea what you see in him." Spencer chuckled a little

"Well _Hanks _isn't like my brother and I haven't known him since I was in college."

"I have a feeling they aren't talking about Tom Hanks." The brunette girl whispered to Hotch.

"Aren't you supposed to be going to meet Thomas." Spencer was trying to save me but really I would rather stay here and have someone find out I had the hots for him then go see Tommy because that would lead to me going to go see Greg.

"Yeah." I shrugged. "But then he'll tell me to talk to Greg and then I really might get fired."

"Why?" Penelope asked again.

"You ask that a lot."

"What can you say, Penelope needs to know all." Reid chuckled.

"Because, I might have yelled at Greg and a few curse words might have flown out. You know he isn't strict but he doesn't like getting yelled at either. Not even from me."

"Do you always have to open your mouth?" Penelope asked picking up her things again.

"Yeah." I shrugged before walking towards the door. "If I'm not here when you guys come back, you'll know why."

* * *

The rest of the day wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Sure I had to stay in the bull pen and work on paperwork while everybody else was out, but I got to leave when I was supposed to which let me actually pick Gwen up at the right time. I pulled up to Mrs. Stark's house a yawn escaping from my mouth as I walked across the wet cement. I knocked leisurely on the wooden door a day of reading and typing finally hitting me.

"Annabelle," Mrs. Stark smiled, "this is a pleasant surprise." She opened the door up letting me in.

"Mommy!" Gwen shouted as I walked through the door. I scooped her up twirling her around in my arms, her curls flying and her laughter echoing in my ears. "You're here!" She exclaimed again once I put her down.

"I'm here." I kissed her cheek as I looked over at Mrs. Stark as she handed me Gwen's bag.

"Guess what I learned today?" She asked excitedly.

"I don't know." I shrugged as we started to walk towards the car. "What?"

"I learned my colors!" She exclaimed as I put her seat belt on her. This thing was a lot easier to put on that it was to take off.

"Really?" I asked thoroughly impressed. "Do you know what color your eyes are?" I asked as she started to look in a mirror that was lying next to her car seat.

"They are . . . green!" She shouted before looking at herself again. "They aren't green." She frowned. "They're blue."

"That's okay, I used to get blue and green mixed up all the time." I smiled sliding into the car.

"Really? I'm just like you!" She smiled her contagious smiled again before yawning.

"Did you take a nap to day?"

"Nope, I wasn't sleepy." She yawned again leaning her head back. "I love you mommy." She whispered.

"I love you honey." This was my favorite part of day.


End file.
